Documenting Their Lives, Telling Their Stories

The Higley Family

Today I’m starting to post records on The Higley Family, one of my husband’s lines. Susan Higley, his great-great-grandmother has quite a story to tell, but first here’s some general information about this family who came to America so long ago.

At least two histories have been published about the Higley family, that of Mary Coffin Johnson “THE HIGLEYS AND THEIR ANCESTRY” published in 1892, and the more recent work of Leroy E. Higley , “THE FIRST SEVEN GENERATIONS OF HIGLEY DESCENDANTS” published in 2003. I recommend that interested researchers study these two sources for in-depth information.

Most of the information on this site is related to research on the ancestors and descendants of Susan Higley, a direct descendant of Captain John Higley who arrived on the shores of what would become America, more than 100 years before the Revolutionary War.

In the years just prior John Higley’s departure from England the country had suffered the terrible plague of 1665, as well as severe repression of religious groups such as the Quakers and Puritans. No doubt both of these events influenced his departure from England. But he and his descendants became prominent in the communities of Granby and Simsbury, Connecticut where they settled, and much has been written about them as noted above.

Some of the family names associated with the Higleys through marriage were: Drake, Holcombe, Hoard, Godderd/Gozzard/Goderd, Trumbull, and Leach to name just a few.

Researchers will find a significant amount of information in the publications mentioned above. In addition, Leroy E. Higley can be contacted via Email at: l1higley@wcnet.org.